Google Apps Vault helps businesses of all sizes easily and securely manage their most important information. It can help businesses prepare for the unexpected and reduce the cost of litigation, regulatory investigations and compliance actions.

We launched Google Apps Vault to provide easy-to-use, enterprise-class archiving, retention and eDiscovery capabilities to our Google Apps customers. Until now, many small and medium-size businesses were unable to deploy solutions like Vault due to cost and complexity. But starting today, Apps customers can purchase Google Apps Vault online directly from the Control Panel.

Google Apps Vault can be added to your Google Apps account for an additional $5 per user per month. For information on how to add Vault to your Apps account, please visit the Google Apps Help Center. If you are not yet a Google Apps customer, you can get more information and start a free trial of Google Apps and Google Apps Vault.

Editor’s note: Google Apps Vault is available for new and recent Google Apps for Business and Education customers. We’re working to enable Vault for existing customers, and we’ll announce availability when it is ready.